Stone, Lyle lose as Chicago City Council gets makeover

Hal Dardick and John Byrne, Tribune reporters

When the hands come off the holy books at swearing-in ceremonies next month, Chicago will have a City Council churned by turnover of more than a third of its 50 members along with a new mayor, Rahm Emanuel.

The new council will be without its second-longest-serving member, 50th Ward Ald. Bernard Stone, who suffered a crushing loss. Also gone is 6th Ward Ald. Freddrenna Lyle, a veteran African-American leader who went down in a narrow defeat.

Not even the 36th Ward, long a Democratic machine bastion, was safe from change. Appointed Ald. John Rice, the former driver for political powerbroker William J.P. Banks, lost to a little-known firefighter, Nicholas Sposato.

The new aldermen were elected Tuesday in runoffs in 14 wards where no candidate scored a majority on Feb. 22. In the intervening six weeks, more than $2.4 million poured into the runoff campaigns, with most of the cash coming from unions, politicians and business interests hoping to shape the council.

Emanuel lost the Lyle and Rice races and one other, but his candidates emerged victorious in the other seven contests where the mayor-elect backed a candidate. Last weekend, Emanuel walked door-to-door on the Far North Side with Debra Silverstein, who defeated Stone.

Aides to Emanuel said Silverstein was the first person he called to congratulate Tuesday evening, even as Silverstein sought to dispel the notion that she would do the new mayor's bidding.

"I'm here to represent the people of the 50th Ward," said Silverstein, who is married to state Sen. Ira Silverstein, the ward's Democratic committeeman. "I'm looking forward to being an independent person."

Stone scored just 38 percent in losing his first council election since 1973.

"It would appear that this will be my last term," Stone said, cameras snapping around him. "It's been a good run. I will be satisfied with what I've done to help the people in the 50th Ward, and I feel sorry for them from this point on, but I wish them well."

On the South Side, Lyle lost to second-generation politician Roderick Sawyer, the son of the late former Mayor Eugene Sawyer. The defeat came despite support from Emanuel, powerful Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, and unions.

"They are unhappy and disgruntled with the face of government," said Lyle, whose largely middle-class ward saw the murder of two police officers in the past year. "And I am the face of government."

Sposato, whose 36th Ward campaign got some of its money from firefighter unions, said he was surprised to get more than 56 percent against Rice. "I thought I had a 50-50 chance," Sposato said. "Basically, I was up against an army."

All told, the council will have 18 new faces. Thirteen new aldermen were elected this year and five more have little experience after being recently appointed by outgoing Mayor Richard Daley.

The 20th Ward contest drew outsize attention because it featured a retired cop running against a rap artist with a rap sheet.

In the end, Ald. Willie Cochran won a second term by collecting 54 percent of the vote, to 46 percent for Grammy winner Che "Rhymefest" Smith. Cochran got Emanuel's support about a week ago, while Smith from the start had some of the unions in his corner. In defeat, Smith raised questions about whether people voted from abandoned buildings or from outside the ward.

Two other first-term aldermen from economically struggling South Side neighborhoods beat back challenges with help from unions and Emanuel.

In the 16th Ward, Ald. JoAnn Thompson, a former Cook County sheriff's lieutenant, scored 56 percent of the vote to defeat Hal Baskin, a community anti-violence coordinator and frequent candidate who got 44 percent. Baskin was charged with two misdemeanors after getting into an argument with an election judge.

In the 17th Ward, Ald. Latasha Thomas, an 11-year council veteran, got major help from Emanuel to fend off a challenge. Thomas is the former chief of staff to the previous alderman, Terry Peterson — who's now CTA chairman and an Emanuel political ally.

Thomas scored more than 52 percent of the vote to 47 percent for David Moore, a top aide at the county tax appeals board and a former operative in the Democratic ward organization when it was led by Peterson.

Republicans fighting elimination

Republicans were hoping to avoid being wiped out of the council entirely, even though city offices are officially non-partisan these days.

The 45th Ward appears headed for a recount as John Arena led John Garrido by 29 votes out of more than 12,000 cast. Garrido said he'll ask for a recount.

Arena is a business owner and longtime community activist who had all-out support from the Service Employees International Union. Garrido is a Chicago police lieutenant who ran last year in the Republican primary for Cook County Board president. He was backed by the Fraternal Order of Police and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.

One of Mayor Daley's appointed aldermen won Tuesday. In the 38th Ward, Ald. Timothy Cullerton, 38th, rode his famous family name and support from Emanuel and Burke to victory. Cullerton, a former first deputy commissioner in the buildings department, got nearly 60 percent to 40 percent for Tom Caravette, a real estate agent who owns several properties in the ward.

Lakefront squeaker

Longtime North Side Aldermen Vi Daley and Helen Shiller didn't run again, leading to a pair of hard-fought races.

In Uptown's 46th Ward, James Cappleman, a social worker and longtime community activist backed by the Chicago Teachers Union, downed Molly Phelan, who was backed by Burke and Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd. Cappleman got nearly 56 percent to 44 percent for Phelan.

Smith, an attorney, is the ward's Democratic committeeman. Egan is a hospital executive backed by a pro-Emanuel fund.

Southwest: Solis in close one

In the largely Latino 25th Ward, well-connected Ald. Daniel "Danny" Solis, fended off a spirited challenge from Cuahutemoc Morfin, a community activist and vice president of his family's construction firm.

Solis, who was backed by Emanuel, Burke, SEIU and business interests, got 54 percent. Morfin, who campaigned on a promise to clean up a pollution-spewing coal plant in Pilsen, got nearly 46 percent.

In an acknowledgment of the traction Morfin gained pushing the power plant issue, Solis told supporters he is committed to passing a clean-air ordinance. Solis said he believes the ordinance will be challenged in the courts, but realizes that it is too important to his constituents not to support it.

Solis said he was surprised by how close Morfin came to beating him, and realized his opponent was scoring points with the air-quality issue.

On the West Side, first-term 24th Ward Ald. Sharon Denise Dixon lost a grudge rematch to former Ald. Michael Chandler, who scored more than 60 percent after losing a runoff four years ago.